EVONETIX LTD (‘Evonetix’), the company developing semiconductor scale technology to improve access to gene synthesis, today announces the signing of a joint development agreement and commercial supply agreement with Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), a global semiconductor leader. This agreement signals the continuation of the long-standing combined work of both companies, bringing efforts to the next stage in producing a new technology benchmark that will help meet the global demand for better gene synthesis.
Current gene synthesis approaches can be slow, expensive, and inaccurate, potentially causing a huge bottleneck for innovation. Centralized DNA production services struggle to deliver length, accuracy, and complexity at speed. Evonetix has reimagined gene synthesis and is developing a completely new approach that will release the potential of novel biologic therapies and drive advances in engineering biology faster and further.
Together with ADI, Evonetix is developing a gene foundry on a chip, which will consign the service model to history. Evonetix envisages preparing gene length DNA in three days at the benchtop, accelerating the design-build-test cycle for antibodies, vaccines, and proteins from months to days, and delivering as much as a 10-fold productivity increase in gene delivery.
Today’s agreement underlines the work in taking the development of ADI’s application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which is designed to thermally control DNA synthesis and assembly to the next level by providing a turn-key semiconductor solution for Evonetix’s Evaleo® series of DNA synthesis devices.
In the latest agreements between the companies, ADI has committed to investing in the continued development of the Evonetix semiconductor-based gene synthesis family of devices. The companies have also entered into a commercial supply agreement to secure the highly scalable manufacturing capability of ADI for Evonetix and its future customers.
Matthew Hayes, Founder and CTO at Evonetix, said: “This agreement with global semiconductor leader ADI represents a major milestone for Evonetix and is a strong validation of our vision and our technology. This provides us with the capacity and manufacturing capabilities required as we continue our efforts to bring our technology closer to market, putting the power of gene synthesis directly in the hands of researchers.”
Patrick O’Doherty, Senior Vice President of Digital Healthcare at ADI, added: “ADI’s efforts with Evonetix will be central to the manufacturing and commercialization of their benchtop gene synthesis platform. We see the interface between silicon and biology as critical for the future development of therapeutics to help treat disease, and we are delighted to work with Evonetix on this.”
New study links circadian gene variants to winter depression